Man convicted in '95 capital murder receives reduced sentence

Antonio Flynn was charged with capital murder as a juvenile and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. On Wednesday, Dec. 7, Circuit Judge Greg Griffin reduced his sentence to life in prison.(Photo: MCSO)

A man will step outside of prison for the first time as an adult to attend his mother’s funeral this weekend. Moments before Circuit Judge Greg Griffin granted the temporary release, he also reduced Antonio Flynn’s capital murder sentence.

Flynn, now 38, was 17 when he was charged in 1995 with capital murder in connection Clifford March’s death.

He was tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Seventeen years later, the U.S. Supreme Court made their 2012 decision, Miller v. Alabama, retroactive. That meant Flynn, along with 1,500 other people who were sentenced as juveniles, were eligible for a reduced sentence.

In Miller, Supreme Court justices ruled that juveniles couldn’t be given a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, and that doing so would violate a person’s Eighth Amendment right to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment. Flynn is one of nine inmates in Montgomery County who are eligible for relief under Miller.

Griffin ruled Wednesday to lower Flynn's sentence to life in prison.

“Mr. Flynn, you must have been doing some serious praying because I was inclined to keep your sentence as life without parole, but God has changed my heart,” Griffin said to Flynn during his hearing.

While Flynn’s family breathed a sigh of relief, March’s family’s grew disheartened.

“My family's life was traumatized (after March was killed) because our mother, Hazel March, was never quite the same,” Debra Shufford, March’s stepdaughter wrote in a statement.

“She was devastated, distressed and shocked by the heinous crime. She could no longer live alone. She was fearful all of the time. She abandoned her home and moved in with me. My once vibrant mother’s health began to fail.”

Shufford wrote that she promised her mother, who died in 2010, that she would continue to try to prevent Flynn and his co-defendant, John Rogers, from leaving prison.

Rogers was released on parole last week. Flynn will now be eligible for parole in 10 years or so.

“Regrettably, I was not able to keep that promise when Judge Griffin decided to give Mr. Flynn a life sentence. His words made my heart ache,” Shufford wrote.

Charlotte Morrison, an Equal Justice Initiative attorney representing Flynn, argued that Flynn shouldn’t be found as culpable, in part because Flynn’s IQ falls among the lowest 3 percent and didn't understand what he was doing.

Though Flynn will likely not be parole eligible for another 10 years, he will be able to leave prison for one weekend to attend his mother’s funeral, who died last week.

“My position is that the man’s mama died. If he’s able to pay the expenses to go and view his mother’s body, then I’m going to order it,” Griffin said.

District Attorney Daryl Bailey said the state stringently objected to Griffin’s decision because of the 56 discipline incidents Flynn amassed while in prison and because of the “heinous nature” of the crime.

Flynn and Rogers targeted March, a taxi driver, as someone who they could rob and kill.

“Mr. March was on his way to take his wife (my mother) and my children, who were toddlers at that time, to get some doughnuts prior to getting a call from Mr. Flynn for a taxi ride. Fortunately, he dropped my mom and children off at home,” Shufford wrote.

Bailey said that although Flynn wasn’t completely on board with the plan, he still went along with it. He added that the premeditated nature of crime set it apart from most murder cases his office sees.

“It’s not like (March’s murder) was a drug deal gone bad. This was a heavily planned, premeditated murder … This is not the guy who should get a break,” Bailey said. “The guy who should get a break is the one who made a mistake in the heat of the moment and then had few disciplinaries while in prison. (Flynn) is not the guy you take a chance on.”